Sunday, October 19, 2008

Greg Little, the author of today's Bucket List post, is the inventor of the Bottleport a "patent pending hydration solution for small sailboats and other watercraft." It's one of those devices that is so well suited for its purpose that once you've seen it you wonder why nobody has ever thought of it before. Essentially it is a bottle holder that screws into one of the standard 5" inspection ports often fitted to small sailboats. It has the same watertight seal as the original lid for the port and provides a way to hold a drink container that is totally secure, and easily accessible with one hand.

Having experimented for 25 years with various other homemade solutions for carrying a water bottle on a Laser I was immediately attracted to the elegance of this solution. Greg sent me a prototype, and my son and I tested it out on our sails on the last couple of weekends. What can I say? It works exactly as advertised. No problems whatsoever.

We actually tested it on my son's boat which already has an inspection port. I'm now planning to fit a port to my boat so I can use the Bottleport myself every time I go sailing. I think I'm probably going to fit it in the rear deck so that it's out of the way and so there's no chance that my control lines could get tangled in it. (Regular readers of my blog, all three of you, will know that every line on my boat has the amazing ability to tie itself in knots and to tangle itself around any other object in the vicinity.)

Check out the Bottleport website which has more photos, videos, FAQ, everything you would want to know. The Bottleport goes on sale tomorrow, October 20. It's the perfect present for the Laser sailor in your life.

Update: An alternative way to mount the Bottleport on a Laser, in the cockpit sidewall.

8 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Regarding the aft location, I read your comments and was thinking the same thing. I put two 5" ports aft of my cockpit to do some repair work. However, I am concerned that the bottleport will be too long. Any idea of its length?

I asked Greg that same question and he assures me that it will fit in a port on the rear deck. My only issue then will be to choose a water bottle that doesn't have a mouthpiece so high that it might foul the tiller.

Hey Pete, yes the Bottleport will work in the back deck as there is more than enough clearance. Look carefully though to make sure you're not cutting into any reinformeent plates or stringers or stuff like that.

Any plans to produce a 6" bottle port? I'm a Hobie 18 sailor and the hull port are standard 6". I store my drinks in a port bag, but this would be ideal during ragattas. Hobie 18 sailors would buy these up.

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